CHAP. I. wooden door of the passage which leads to the inner court of this mysterious edifice. We succeeded in forcing this open; but the noise of its grating hinges, amidst the profound silence of the place, went to our very hearts. We then entered a small quadrangle, exactly resembling that of Queen's College, Cambridge, filled with weeds. It was divided into two parts, one raised above the other; the principal side of the court containing an open cloister, supported by small white marble columns. Every thing appeared in a neglected state. The women only reside here during summer. Their winter apartments may be compared to the late Bastile of France; and the decoration of these apartments is even inferior to that which I shall presently describe. From this court, forcing open a small window near the ground, we climbed into the building, and alighted upon a long range of wooden beds, or couches, covered by mats, prepared for the reception of a hundred slaves: these reached the whole extent of a very long corridor. From hence, passing some narrow passages, the floors of which were also matted, we came to a staircase leading to the upper apartments. Of such irregular and confused architecture it is difficult to give any adequate description. We passed from the lower dormitory of the slaves to another above: this was divided into two tiers; so that one half of the numerous attendants it was designed to accommodate slept over the other, upon a sort of shelf or scaffold near the ceiling. From this second corridor we entered into a third, a long matted passage on the left of this were small apartments for slaves of higher rank; and upon the right, a series of rooms looking towards the sea. By continuing along this corridor, we at last entered the great Chamber of Audience, in which the sultan Mother Chamber of receives visits of ceremony, from the Sultanas, and other distinguished ladies of the Charem. Nothing can be imagined better suited to theatrical representation than this chamber; and I regret the loss of the very accurate drawing which I caused Monsieur Preaux to complete upon the spot. It is exactly such an apartment as the best painters of scenic decoration would have selected, to afford a striking idea of the pomp, the seclusion, and the magnifieence, of the Ottoman court. The stage is best suited for Audience, CHAP. I. its representation; and therefore the reader is requested to have the stage in his imagination while it is described. It was surrounded with enormous mirrors, the costly donations of Infidel Kings, as they are styled by the present possessors. These mirrors the women of the seraglio sometimes break in their frolics (22). At the upper end is the throne, a sort of cage, in which the Sultana sits, surrounded by latticed blinds; for even here her person is held too sacred to be exposed to the common observation of slaves and females of the Charem. A lofty flight of broad steps, covered with crimson cloth, leads to this cage, as to a throne. Immediately in front of it are two burnished chairs of state, covered with crimson velvet and gold, one on each side the entrance. To the right and the left of the throne, and upon a level with it, are the sleeping apartments of the Sultan Mother, and her principal females in waiting. The external windows of the throne are all latticed: on one side they look towards the sea, and on the other into the quadrangle of the Charem; the chamber itself occupying the whole breadth of the building, on the side of the quadrangle into which it looks. The area below the latticed throne, or the front of the stage (to follow the idea before proposed), is set apart for attendants, for the dancers, for actors, music, refreshments, and whatsoever is brought into the Charem for the amusement of the court. This place is covered with Persian mats; but these are removed when the Sultana is here, and the richest carpets substituted in their place. Assembly Baths, Beyond the great Chamber of Audience is the Assembly Room of the Sultan, when he is in the Charem. Here we observed the magnificent lustre before mentioned. The Sultan sometimes visits this chamber during the winter, to hear music, and to amuse himself with his favourites. It is surrounded by mirrors. The other ornaments display that strange mixture of magnificence and wretchedness, which characterize all the state-chambers of Turkish grandees. Leaving the Assembly Room by the same door through which we entered, and continuing along the passage, as before, which runs parallel to the sea-shore, we at length reached, what might be termed the Sanctum Sanctorum of this Paphian temple, the Baths of the Sultan Mother and the four principal Sultanas. These are small; but very elegant, constructed of white marble, and lighted CHAP. I. by ground glass above. At the upper end is a raised sudatory and bath for the Sultan Mother, concealed by latticework from the rest of the apartment. Fountains play constantly into the floor of this bath, from all its sides; and every degree of refined luxury has been added to the work, which a people, of all others best versed in the ceremonies of the bath, have been capable of inventing or requiring. Leaving the bath, and returning along the passage by which we came, we entered what is called the Chamber of Chamber of Repose. Nothing need be said of it, except that it commands Repose, the finest view any where afforded from this point of the Seraglio. It forms a part of the building well known to strangers, from the circumstance of its being supported, towards the sea, by twelve columns of that beautiful and rare breccia, the viride Lacedæmonium of Pliny (23), called by Italians, Il verde antico. These columns are of the finest quality ever seen; and each of them consists of one entire stone. The two interior pillars are of green Egyptian breeeia, more beautiful than any specimen of the kind existing. We now proceeded to that part of the Charem which looks into the Seraglio garden, and entered a large apartment, called Chalved Viertzy, or, as the French would express it, Salle de promenade. Here the other ladies of the Saloon of the Charem entertain themselves, by hearing and seeing comedies, farcical representations, dances, and music. We found it in the state of an old lumber-room. Large dusty pier-glasses, in heavy gilded frames, neglected and broken, stood, like the Vicar of Wakefield's family picture, leaning against the wall, the whole length of one side of the room. Old furniture; shabby bureaus of the worst English work, made of oak, walnut, or mahogany; inlaid broken cabinets; scattered fragments of chandeliers; scraps of paper, silk rags, and empty confectionary boxes; were the only objects in this part of the palace. From this room, we descended into the court of the Charem; and, having crossed it, ascended, by a flight of steps, to an upper parterre, for the purpose of examining a part of the building appropriated to the inferior ladies of the Seraglio. Finding it exactly upon the plan of the rest, only worse furnished, and in a more wretched state, we returned, to quit CHAREM. CHAP. I. Garden of the Charem entirely, and effect our retreat to the garden. The Reader may imagine our consternation, on finding that the great door was closed upon us, and that we were locked in. Listening, to ascertain if any one was stirring, we discovered that a slave had entered to feed some turkeys, who were gobbling and making a great noise at a small distance.. We profited by their tumult, to force back the huge lock of the gate with a large stone, which fortunately yielded to our blows, and we made our escape. We now quitted the Lower Garden of the Seraglio, and ascended, by a paved road, towards the Chamber of the Garden of Hyacinths. This promised to be interesting, as we were told the Sultan passed almost all his private hours in that apartment; and the view of it might make us acquainted with occupations and amusements, which characterise the man, divested of the outward parade of the Sultan. We presently turned from the paved ascent, towards the right, and entered a small garden, laid out into very neat oblong borders, edged with porcelain, or Dutch tiles. Here no plant is suffered to grow, except the Hyacinth; whence the name of this garden, and the chamber it contains. We examined this apartment, by looking through a window. Nothing can be more magnificent. Three sides of it were surrounded by a divân, the cushions and pillows of which were of black embroidered satin. Opposite the windows of the chamber was a fire-place, after the ordinary European fashion; and on each side of this, a door covered with hangings of crimson cloth. Between each of these doors and the fire-place appeared a glass-case, containing the Sultan's private library; every volume being in manuscript, and upon shelves, one above the other, and the title of each book written on the edges of its leaves. From the ceiling of the room, which was of burnished gold, opposite each of the doors, and also opposite to the fire-place, hung three gilt cages, containing small figures of artificial birds: these sung by mechanism. In the centre of the room stood an enormous gilt brasier, supported, in an ewer, by four massive elaws, like vessels seen under sideboards in England. Opposite to the entrance, on one side of the apartment, was a raised bench, crossing a door, on which were placed an embroidered нapkin, a vase, and bason, for washing the beard and hands. CHAP. I. Over this bench, upon the wall, was suspended the large em- We had scarce ended our survey of this costly scene, when, to our great dismay, a Bostanghy made his appearance within the apartment; but, fortunately for us, his head was turned from the window, and we immediately sunk below it, creeping upon our hands and knees, until we got clear of the Garden of Hyacinths. Thence, ascending to the upper walks, we passed an aviary of nightingales. The walks in the upper garden are very small, in wretched condition, and laid out in worse taste than the fore court of a Dutchman's house in the suburbs of the Hague. Small as they are, they constituted, until lately, the whole of the Seraglio gardens near the sea; and from them may be seen the whole prospect of the entrance to the Canal, and the opposite coast of Scutary. Here, in an old kiosk, is seen a very ordinary marble slab, supported on iron cramps : this, never. theless, was a present from Charles the Twelfth of Sweden. It is precisely the sort of sideboard seen in the lowest inns of England; and, while it may be said no person would pay half the amount of its freight to send it back again, it shews the nature of the presents then made to the Porte by foreign Princes. From these formal parterres we descended to the Gardener's lodge, and left the gardens by the gate through which we entered. I never should have offered so copious a detail of the scenery of this remarkable place, if I did not believe that an account D Upper walks of the Seraglio. |